Using Experiments to Estimate the Effects of Education on Voter Turnout

The powerful relationship between education and voter turnout is arguably the most well-documented and robust finding in American survey research. Yet the causal interpretation of this relationship remains controversial, with many authors suggesting that the apparent link between education and turnout is spurious. In contrast to previous work, which has relied on observational data to assess the effect of education on voter turnout, this article analyzes two randomized experiments and one quasi-experiment in which educational attainment was altered exogenously. We track the children in these experiments over the long term, examining their voting rates as adults. In all three studies, we find that exogenously induced changes in high school graduation rates have powerful effects on voter turnout rates. These results imply that the correlation between education and turnout is indeed causal. We discuss some of the pathways by which education may transmit its influence.     

An Experiment Testing the Relative Effectiveness of Encouraging Voter Participation by Inducing Feelings of Pride or Shame

Prior experimental research has demonstrated that voter turnout rises substantially when people receive mailings that indicate whether they voted in previous elections. This effect suggests that voters are sensitive to whether their compliance with the norm of voting is being monitored. The present study extends this line of research by investigating whether disclosure of past participation has a stronger effect on turnout when it calls attention to a past abstention or a past vote. A sample of 369,211 registered voters who voted in just one of two recent elections were randomly assigned to receive no mail, mail that encouraged them to vote, and mail that both encouraged them to vote and indicated their turnout in one previous election. The latter type of mailing randomly reported either the election in which they voted or the one in which they abstained. Results suggest that mailings disclosing past voting behavior had strong effects on voter turnout and that these effects were significantly enhanced when it disclosed an abstention in a recent election.     

Innovation and Implementation in the Public Sector: An Examination of Public Entrepreneurship

This article develops an empirical measure of public entrepreneurship and uses it to discover the correlates that distinguish between those participants in a policy domain who are seen as more or less important in the entrepreneurial process. Looking at two rural regions dealing with telemedicine technologies, the authors examine the role of personal attributes and situational attributes in predicting who will emerge as the most mentioned public entrepreneurs on these issues in their community. Status in the local community, membership in the health professions, and strong local focus and ties are the most instrumental variables in distinguishing between those in a policy domain who are more likely to be identified as entrepreneurial. The authors provide an empirical test that can, for the first time, identify in a comparative context the traits that distinguish more entrepreneurial individuals from less entrepreneurial ones (or nonentrepreneurial ones) participating in the same policy domain.     

Sudden and suspicious deaths outside the deceased's own country — Time for an international protocol

Increased leisure time, international business commitments, and ease of travel have led to an increased incidence of sudden deaths outside the deceased's own country.Methods of investigation of sudden death, and the extent of such enquiries, vary greatly from country to country. The relatives of the deceased frequently make serious allegations relating to the circumstances of the death when they return to their homeland, and when the body is repatriated, a local pathologist may be directed to make an examination. This is frequently limited by inadequate police information, inadequate preservation of the organs and the absence of any autopsy report.Examples of these difficulties are presented, and suggestions offered for a basic protocol for the examination and report upon the death of a foreign national.Following the presentation of this paper at the International Association of Forensic Sciences Meeting in Bergen, considerable discussion took place and there have been further developments in the United Kingdom. These are briefly reported.     

Use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprints for identity determination: comparison with traditional paternity testing methods--Part II

Six red blood cell (RBC) antigen systems, coupled with human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) phenotyping, were used to establish paternity on 28 mother/child/alleged-father trios. Samples were subsequently examined using the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fingerprinting test with the multilocus Jeffreys DNA probes 33.6 and 33.15. In 27 of 28 paternity cases, the DNA fingerprinting test results supported and enhanced the results of RBC and HLA typing by resolving disputed paternity cases conclusively. One discrepancy between conventional serological methods and DNA analysis is discussed.